This trial was funded by the NIHR HTA programme (reference number 09/110/01). The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.
The trial protocol is published in the journal Trials.26
Trial Steering Committee
We are very grateful to the following members of the Trial Steering Committee:
- Professor Michael Ussher PhD (chairperson)
- Dr Lion Shahab MA MSc PhD CPsychol (expert in tobacco dependence)
- Dan Griffin (smokers panel representative/lay member)
- Jane Wright (NHS Stop Smoking Service manager)
- Dr Helen J Stokes-Lampard FRCGP PhD (academic GP)
- Dr Tess Harris (academic GP)
- Dr Rumana Omar PhD (statistician)
- Professor Paul Aveyard (chief investigator, non-voting member)
- Dr Nicola Lindson (trial manager, non-voting member).
Contributions of authors
We agreed as a group that authorship would be corporate – the Preloading Investigators – and would prefer this to be how the report was described when published. The investigators were as follows:
Paul Aveyard (Professor of Behavioural Medicine) was the chief investigator and principal investigator of both the Bristol and the Birmingham centres.
Nicola Lindson (Cochrane Managing Editor) was a trial manager and co-applicant.
Sarah Tearne (Clinical Trial Manager) was a clinical trial manager.
Rachel Adams (Research Nurse) was responsible for recruitment and follow-up.
Khaled Ahmed (Data Entry Clerk) was responsible for data entry.
Rhona Alekna (Research Nurse) was responsible for recruitment and follow-up.
Miriam Banting (Research Nurse) was responsible for recruitment and follow-up.
Mike Healy (Administrator) was responsible for study administration.
Shahnaz Khan (Administrator) was responsible for study administration.
Gurmail Rai (Senior Analyst Programmer) was responsible for database design and maintenance.
Carmen Wood (Administrator) was responsible for study administration.
Emma C Anderson (Research Assistant) was responsible for recruitment and follow-up.
Alia Ataya-Williams (Administrator) was responsible for study management and interpretation of the data.
Angela Attwood (Research Fellow) was responsible for recruitment and follow-up.
Kayleigh Easey (Research Assistant) was responsible for recruitment and follow-up.
Megan Fluharty (Research Assistant) was responsible for recruitment and follow-up.
Therese Freuler (Research Assistant) was responsible for recruitment and follow-up.
Megan Hurse (Apprentice) was responsible for study administration, recruitment and follow-up.
Jasmine Khouja (Research Assistant) was responsible for recruitment and follow-up.
Lindsey Lacey (Data Entry Clerk), was responsible for data entry and also acted as a research assistant.
Marcus Munafò (Professor of Biological Psychology) was the lead researcher at the Bristol centre and a co-applicant.
Deborah Lycett (Reader in Nutrition, Dietetics and Spiritual Health) was a co-investigator and was responsible for study management and the interpretation of data.
Andy McEwen [National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training (NCSCT) Executive Director] was responsible for study management and interpretation of the data.
Tim Coleman (Professor of Primary Care) was the principal investigator at the Nottingham centre.
Anne Dickinson (Research Assistant) was responsible for recruitment and follow-up.
Sarah Lewis (Professor of Medical Statistics) was the trial statistician with responsibility for the statistical analysis.
Sophie Orton (Research Fellow) was responsible for the statistical analysis.
Johanna Perdue (Administrator) was a trial administrator, with responsibility for study administration.
Clare Randall (Administrator) was a trial administrator, with responsibility for study administration.
Rebecca Anderson (Data Entry Clerk) was responsible for site set-up, recruitment, intervention delivery, data collection and data entry.
Natalie Bisal (Data Entry Clerk) was responsible for data collection, data cleaning and study closure.
Peter Hajek (Professor of Clinical Psychology and Director of the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine’s Tobacco Dependence Research Unit) was a co-applicant and a site principal investigator, responsible for study design, data analysis and write-up and supervision of site activities.
Celine Homsey (Data Entry Clerk) was responsible for site set up, recruitment, intervention delivery, data collection and data entry.
Hayden J McRobbie (Senior Clinical Researcher) was a co-applicant (study design) and was responsible for study management, design and interpretation of data.
Katherine Myers-Smith (Research Fellow) was responsible for site set up, recruitment, intervention delivery, data collection and data entry.
Anna Phillips (Data Entry Clerk) was responsible for recruitment, data collection and study closure.
Dunja Przulj (Data Entry Clerk) was responsible for recruitment, data collection and study closure.
Jinshuo Li (Health Economist) was responsible for the health economic analysis.
Doug Coyle (Health Economic Analyst) was responsible for the health economic analysis.
Katherine Coyle (Health Economic Analyst) was responsible for the health economic modelling.
Subhash Pokhrel (Health Economic Analyst) was responsible for the health economic analysis.
Publications
The Preloading Investigators. Effects on abstinence of nicotine patch treatment before quitting smoking: parallel, two arm, pragmatic randomised trial. BMJ 2018;361:k2164. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.k2164
Data sharing statement
All data requests should be submitted to the corresponding author for consideration. Access to available anonymised data may be granted following review and if appropriate agreements are in place.
Patient data
This work uses data provided by patients and collected by the NHS as part of their care and support. Using patient data is vital to improve health and care for everyone. There is huge potential to make better use of information from people’s patient records, to understand more about disease, develop new treatments, monitor safety, and plan NHS services. Patient data should be kept safe and secure, to protect everyone’s privacy, and it’s important that there are safeguards to make sure that it is stored and used responsibly. Everyone should be able to find out about how patient data are used. #datasaveslives You can find out more about the background to this citation here: https://understandingpatientdata.org.uk/data-citation.
Disclaimers
This report presents independent research funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The views and opinions expressed by authors in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the NHS, the NIHR, NETSCC, the HTA programme or the Department of Health and Social Care. If there are verbatim quotations included in this publication the views and opinions expressed by the interviewees are those of the interviewees and do not necessarily reflect those of the authors, those of the NHS, the NIHR, NETSCC, the HTA programme or the Department of Health and Social Care.